According to the Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA) of 1990, no airport may impose any access restriction, such as a mandatory curfew, that unduly burdens interstate commerce.  All seven MAC-owned airports are public use facilities available for use 24 hours per day. Beause all seven MAC-owned airports are public use facilities that use federal aviation dollars for improvements and development, federal policy supersedes local authority with respect to access and use of the airports. A curfew would create a burden on interstate commerce which is illegal by FAA regulations.  Since ANCA was implemented, the federal government has not granted approval to any airport to implement an access restriction.

The MAC has, however, implemented voluntary restrictions at MSP and its six reliever airports with recommended procedures for operations that occur during the nighttime hours (10:30 pm to 6:00 am).  Letters were sent to all of carrier operators at MSP on December 18, 2007, requesting that they “put forth their best efforts to avoid scheduling operations between the nighttime hours of 10:30 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. and avoid the use of hushkitted Stage 3 aircraft for flights that are scheduled to occur during the nighttime hours.” To access the voluntary nighttime operations procedures for the MAC’s reliever airports, please visit the Other MAC Airports page, then select the airport of interest.